F1 CEO warns against putting too many expectations on ‘golden boy’ Kimi Antonelli
With Kimi Antonelli soon joining the paddock with Mercedes, Stefano Domenicali urged not to put too many expectations on the young kid.
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Stefano Domenicali and Kimi Antonelli (Via: Imago)
A total of six drivers will make their full-time debut in 2025. This includes the highly anticipated arrival of the 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes. However, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali views the situation of the young Italian a bit differently and asserts that a hoard of expectations should not be put on the teenager in his debut year.
Kimi Antonelli joined Mercedes‘ driver academy in 2018 and has been a prodigy of the German giant. The teenager soon trundled waves in the junior racing scene and made the jump to F2, entirely skipping the F3 series. With Lewis Hamilton jumping ship to Ferrari this year, Antonelli became the obvious choice for the Brackley-based squad and thus, received the call-up to the main series for the upcoming 2025 season.
This made him a center of attraction among experts and media. However, his outing at the Italian GP raised some eyebrows around the paddock.
Subsequently, Stefano Domenicali joined in on the debacle. He admitted the Italian’s skillset but urged everyone to not board the hype train and let Antonelli earn experience and prove his qualities when the stakes are the highest.
Kimi is a golden boy. He is a great talent, but we have to give him time to prove his qualities. We should not expect him to be at front already on the first lap in Melbourne. I hope so for him, but if that does not happen there is time to grow.
Stefano Domenicali said (via Autosprint)
Regardless of the criticism that Antonelli may face in his debut season, Mercedes has asserted its faith in the teenager multiple times. Thus, he is expected to stay with the team for this year and beyond and hopefully, become a name to be reckoned with in the extremely competitive paddock.
Will Kimi Antonelli’s arrival be a curse in disguise for George Russell?
Though Hamilton’s boots are hard to fill for anyone, George Russell has often appeared to be capable of leading Mercedes. This has earned him the lead figure role in the Silver Arrows. However, rumors regarding his future with the team have spooled up, indicating the young Italian possibly beating him in the 2025 championship standings.
Despite such speculations, team supremo Toto Wolff has remained calm over the situation. He revealed that the German giant has the strings over the pair’s future and would probably be retaining the pair for 2026.
These two are the future. They have been and will be Mercedes drivers and, therefore, we have contracts with George and Kimi that go much longer that are very complicated in terms of options, etc. And this is a pressure cooker. Mercedes always has been a pressure cooker, but this is where we stand as a team today, we want to go with these two.
Toto Wolff said (via Mirror)
Anyhow, this could all change if the four-time world champion Max Verstappen decides to jump ship to Mercedes. In this case, Wolff would face a critical dilemma of staying true to its driver pair or getting the services of the hottest driver in F1.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)